Mubarak discusses with Jordan's King on Palestinian issue

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held a closed-door meeting on Sunday afternoon with visiting Jordanian King Abdullah II on the latest developments on the Palestinian arena, said Egyptian Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad.

The Egyptian-Jordanian summit came within the framework of continued consultations between Cairo and Amman on the Arab situation, particularly in the Palestinian territories, Awwad said, quoted by the official news agency MENA.

Mubarak voiced his grave concern over clashes which erupted earlier in the day in Gaza, underlining that Palestinian infighting was a red line that should not be trespassed, according to the spokesman.

Mubarak, during the summit, stressed Egypt's persistence in continuing its regional and international contacts aiming at pushing forward the stalled Middle East peace process.

Mubarak said it was impossible to "push the international community and big powers to seriously act on re-launching the peace process while the Palestinian infighting is raging," said Awwad.

Mubarak deemed as "decisive" the current moment in the history of the Palestinian cause, calling for the Palestinians' unity.

It is the only means to tell the international community there was a Palestinian peace partner capable of holding negotiations on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, Mubarak was quoted by Awwad as saying.

Mubarak and Abdullah II agreed on backing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, along with offering aid to help in building Palestinian institutions and rendering a success talks on forming a national unity government, said Awwad.

Mubarak also reiterated it was "unacceptable" that clashes continued between the Palestinian government and some factions at such a critical time, which requires Palestinian unity to set the stage for restoring calm, ending the Palestinian people's sufferings and returning to the negotiating table.

As for Egypt's efforts to release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants on June 25, Awwad said a Palestinian state was the core of the problem.

Earlier in the day, deadly armed clashes erupted in Gaza between Hamas militants and members of security services who took to the streets demanding for delayed salaries. Nine Palestinians were killed while some 80 others injured in the clashes.

The summit between Mubarak and Abdullah II, who arrived here for a several-hour visit in the day, came two days before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embarked on her regional tour, which was seen by many as a move to restart the Mideast peace process.

Quoting anonymous diplomats, Egypt's top-selling daily al-Ahram reported on Friday that Rice was trying to ask moderate Arab nations such as Egypt and Jordan to persuade Hamas to work with Abbas to restart peace talks with Israel.

Source: Xinhua